OREANDA-NEWS. John Hancock Investments posted record gross flows of $28.2 billion in 2015 as well as strong net inflows in a year marked by flat or negative equity markets and rising volatility. Its record gross flows, which increased 14 percent over the prior year, were achieved in an industry that experienced net outflows for the year.?  2015 represented the sixth consecutive year of record gross flows for John Hancock Investments.  

Assets under management reached a record $83.6 billion, up 12 percent from 2014, and for the 17th consecutive quarter John Hancock Investments’ net flows were positive.  Moreover, the firm’s 12-month trailing organic growth rate through December 2015 (calculated as net new flows as a percentage of beginning assets) was 15 percent compared with an industry decline of one percent.

Andrew G. Arnott, President & CEO, noted:  “Our very strong results for 2015 have been driven by solid investment performance across asset classes and a strong product line-up.  But our success is also due to our manager-of-managers model that has allowed us to build a full suite of investment capabilities ranging from what are considered traditional asset classes all the way through alternatives.  Going forward, we will continue our focus on building investment solutions that reflect investor needs. Investors and financial advisors increasingly have turned to our unique approach because they value the more than 25 years’ experience in manager research and oversight we put into every one of our funds.”

“In 2016, key priorities for us will be the expansion of our newly launched exchange-traded fund (ETF) and offshore businesses,” Mr. Arnott added.

Milestones for John Hancock Investments last year included the September launch of six ‘strategic beta’ multifactor ETFs. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP — a company regarded as one of the pioneers in strategic beta investing— was selected to design all six underlying indexes in line with Dimensional’s time-tested factor-based approach.

Last June, John Hancock Investments announced the launch of John Hancock Worldwide Investors, PLC, a Dublin-domiciled UCITS (Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities) platform designed to extend the reach of firm’s signature manager-of-managers approach. The launch made available four of John Hancock Investments’ highly rated investment strategies targeted at non-US residents and UCITS model programs of the firm’s U.S. distribution partners.